CoLu Week 2016
by shvartzit
Summary: I think the title kind of gives it away... Eternity, Excuses, Online, Color, Answers, Raspberry, Energy, Aurora (Bonus day). WARNING! I will make you cry - proceed with caution! Rated for violence. angst/drama/fluff/horror/hurt/comfort. Cover by 8creeney on Tumblr!
1. Eternity: Parallel Wishes

**Day 1: Eternity**

 **Parallel Wishes**

Eternity was the length of time between the first lash hitting the bare skin of his back and when he finally passes out from the pain.

Eternity was the length of time her mother disappeared until she came back home a week later, sick and weak.

Eternity is how long he feels he has spent in the Tower, chained; he doesn't remember anything else.

Eternity is how long she stands by her mother's coffin, accepting the condolences of dozens of people she has never seen before.

Eternity is what he thought had passed since he had hope, but now he has Cubelios, and he won't give up on his friend.

Eternity is what each day felt like without her keys, her only real friends, after Jude decided that she was not allowed to practice magic anymore, not after what happened to her mother.

Eternity is what Zero promised them when he got them out of the Tower, along with making their greatest wishes come true.

Eternity is what she thought had passed since she last saw her father; the servants were kinder than ever, but he forgot her birthday again.

Eternity filled with suffering is what he thought his life would be like until his fast approaching death. He lost count of the days he was lying on the ground, writhing in pain, waiting for his body to accept or reject the lacrima planted in him.

Eternity filled with suffering is what she imagined her life would be like as she watched, horrified, as her father signed his name on the dotted line of the contract, promising her to a man older than himself once she becomes of age.

Eternity of freedom seemed to be right around the corner as he grew stronger with every passing day. He has long since forgotten what silence felt like, or the time when screams of agony were the last thing he wanted to hear.

Eternity of freedom seemed to be right around the corner as she finally managed to steal back her beloved keys. She had been planning her escape for too long, and she already had a small bag prepared in her chambers; now all she had to do was leave.

Eternity ( _or seven years_ ) was taken from him as he rotted in that cell, slowly losing his mind to the silence without his magic. Some days he wanted to die, some days he was planning his escape and world domination, some days he entertained himself with thoughts of torturing, and screams, and blood, and the abrupt way death stops the screeching of the souls he once ripped apart, and some days… some days he tried to understand when everything went wrong only to realize nothing was ever right to begin with.

Eternity ( _or seven years_ ) was taken from her by Acnologia, and while she knew it would take some time and effort to catch up to rest of the world, she didn't know how she could ever get over losing her father like that. She felt wronged by fate to lose him to grief one day, to power-lust the next, and to death the one after that. She felt bad for how the last time they saw each other was tainted, she felt worse for not being with him at his last moments and missing him by three months, and she felt worst for being selfish and making it about her.

Eternity was just out of reach once again (and in the most literal way possible), as the little blonde was slowly absorbed into the Clock. It confused him to no end when he listened to her peaceful soul. It wasn't just the soothing sound of her soul (although he was certain this was the first time he heard something so gentle and sweet), it was the peaceful melody that was put together by the many underlying notes that were her complex soul. He left as soon as he could to stop himself from analyzing what he heard – her fierce belief in her friends' ability to rescue her, her stubborn fight against the Clock, both contrasting with the part inside of her that understood _why_.

Eternity was just out of reach once again, when the world appeared to fall to pieces at the end of the Grand Magic Games. She was about to be executed in the Capital of Death, the Abyss Palace, beneath the palace, only to be saved by Natsu; then she was going to die by the hands of the mad Future Rogue, but once again she was saved – this time by the hands of her older self. Later on she would think back to that night trying to recall more details about the blonde girl that died for her, and sometimes she would try to figure out why her eyes were the color of amethyst or if she was imagining the extra inch of height… but then she would shake her head of the silly thought; she must have imagined that, who else could it be?

Eternity was an idea both had almost thrown out the window sometime in the week after the disbandment of Fairy Tail; it felt wrong, it was not what they were accustomed to, it was killing them to feel as if their skin no longer fit them, when just two weeks before they knew exactly who they were.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

Eternity is how long their hearts wished for this moment to last, holding one another in their arms, the stars shining above them; it was all too perfect, but they couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe it was just the calm before the storm.

His smug and sadistic smirk was for once replaced with the closest thing to a smile he could bring himself to make, just a small upturn at the edges of his full lips, a reward of sorts to this surreal moment and her soft, lazy smile.

"Promise me."

"Promise what?"

"Promise me that you will always love me."

"I promise."

"For forever?"

"For all of eternity."

 **()()**  
 **(O.O)**

 **Word count: 1008**

 **OMFG COLU WEEK IS HERE! I'm so excited, this is my real OTP and I couldn't participate last year because... Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't even watch Fairy Tail then, much less liked non-canon ships like Colu or Lalu so this is awesome.**

 **To any of you that didn't get it, Future Lucy isn't actually Lucy - it's actually hers and Cobra's little girl (her name is Amethyst, Amy for short) - and whose heart did I just break? Also, who do you think said what in the last part, who promised who eternity? I wrote it this way specifically and I really want to hear what you think about.**

 **I really tried to show how their lives were two paths that were parallel to each other even when their lives are opposites in a way, that they may have experienced different things, but to some extent those experiences had the same affect on them both (sort of), and eventually their paths bring them together, and wow that makes me think about Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, which is kind of funny because I have an English Lit final in about two weeks from now that makes me study this poem (freaking 20 points for just one tiny poem!).**

 **Also, I'm so sorry for any of my very few followers that are waiting (and probably plotting my death by now) for me to update Renegade Star. I didn't mean for it to take this long, I swear!**

 **Anyways, hope to see you tomorrow :)**

 **P.S. - at the moment I only have five out of the eight prompts written and today I have my graduation ceremony, tomorrow I'm working (I need money!), on Wednesday I have prom (which means I'll get back home at about 4 in the morning on Thursday), at 11 in the morning the day after I have a HUGE history final that I'm studying for, and after the final I'm going with a bunch of my friends to celebrate one of my best friends' 18th birthday and will only return sometime afternoon on Friday, which means that if I post everything on time then I didn't study to the final (my favorite option) but know that I do plan on posting everything eventually and that I'm just very busy irl right now in general...**

 **So yeah after you just read my schedule for this week try work with me (although you're probably gonna try to kill me before the week is out - I have evil stuff here for ya, and that's _after_ my friend convinced me to not kill ***** on the second day)**


	2. Excuses: What If (You Trust Me?)

**Day 2: Excuses**

 **What If (You Trust Me?)**

"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked, his hands flying to his expandable magic bo staff and his key-ring on instinct.

The maroon-haired woman sneered at him, causing him to take a step back and raise his hands in a submissive gesture. The last time the two of them met, he was just about to be absorbed by a clock, and he was only half conscious.

But he did hear from Doranbalt - Mest, he reminded himself – that most of the Oracion Seis escaped, so maybe meeting Viper in the middle of the forest shouldn't have been as surprising as it was.

The blonde did allow himself to be surprised when a shout of "Erika, wait for us!" was heard in the distance, and soon enough a pink and blue blur knocked him down to the ground in a tight hug.

"Meredy?"

"Hey Lucas." The teenager giggled as she let him go and moved away from him.

"What…?" the Celestial Spirit mage watched in confusion as Racer, Jellal, Angel, Richard, and Midnight joined them.

"Hello Lucas, it's nice seeing you again." Jellal greeted him as formally as ever. The blonde gave a small nod of acknowledgement before warily eyeing the rest of the mages around him, and then looked back to Jellal. At some point each and every one of the people before him had tried to kill him; were they still interested in doing so?

He knew Jellal and Meredy were his friends, but what were they doing with the former members of the Oracion Seis?

"We joined them." Viper answered his thoughts.

"I thought Crime Sorciere is about seeking redemption and forgiveness for past mistake, you don't seem like the type to be regretful for murder." He told her.

"And you're not the type to wander alone in the woods without purpose." Lucas flinched at that. It was true, but ever since Fairy Tail disbanded, his friends, his team ( _his family_ ), scattered to the four winds and he was just as alone as he was before Natsu found him at Hargeon and brought him to the guild.

 _Natsu._

Lucas pushed back the suffocating pain caused by thoughts of the boy that was his brother in all but blood, instead choosing to refocus on the group of misfits before him. If Jellal trusted them, he couldn't see why he shouldn't; he trusted Jellal's judgement, and after quite some time he was finally in the company of friends.

... Sort of.

And that's how Lucas Heartfilia unofficially joined Crime Sorciere. Strangely enough, he fit right in.

He's not an airhead like most expected him to be. He might have been an heir, but that was _ages_ ago, and he was never really interested in money, or running a company, or anything to do with high society. He was smart and clever, kind, caring, selfless, forgiving, determined, different.

He was everything that his new 'guild members' wished to be. Being like him was their goal, although no one ever said it. He was unique in more ways than one and he inspired all of them to be more, to _hope_ for more.

And they did.

Macbeth once said that Lucas had to be the human incarnation of 'forgive and forget', as that was exactly what he did.

His grin when the former members of Oracion Seis told him to call them by their real names was blinding and infectious. He accepted all of them as they were (even Erika), despite the many flaws and questionable habits, and he befriended all of them within a month… more or less (Erika didn't do friends, Macbeth explained, not being poisoned was the best he's going to get).

He helped them change.

Well, most of them at least. Erika, although not as hostile as she was at first, was still keeping her distance from the Celestial Spirit mage. Sure, she often joined his and Macbeth's many conversations - all three of them surprised yet no less happy to discover that they shared similar favorite conversation topics - but other than those mostly neutral talks, she never addressed him.

In fact, the Dragon Slayer kept to herself at all times, brooding in the shadows and scowling at the air. The only one allowed to burst the invisible bubble that separated her from the rest of them was Macbeth, and he usually didn't do it unless he had to.

"Why does she do that?" Lucas asked Macbeth one night, after Erika vanished into the shadows of the woods with no reason the blonde could think of.

The Reflection mage stared into the fire in silence and considered his newest friend's question.

He didn't know how to explain that Erika might not be the oldest member in their group, but she was in the Tower the longest, she suffered more than any of them just because she was a girl, and then to protect Sorano, who was terrified and confused by her new status as slave.

Erika was raped and beaten for days because even if she was the only one out of them to actually be born in that place, she was also the bravest, wildest, most self-sacrificing one. Or she used to be, before Zero broke her; it wasn't just her body that he broke, it was her mind and soul that he conquered.

By the time his foster father pulled them out of the Tower, Erika was used to the abuse of her body, but when Zero realized the extent of her feisty spirit he made it his mission to tame her, a decision that resulted in the disappearance of the girl for four months only to reappear as Viper, the silent Dragon Slayer she was now, with many new scars covering whatever smooth surface of skin she had left.

Of course, Macbeth knew the old Erika was still there; she resurfaced every once in a while when she decided to mess with them for shits and giggles, playing small pranks on them, so subtle that they were usually mistaken for inconvenient misfortunes. The only things that give her away are the satisfied twist of her full lips and the amused twinkle in her amethyst eyes, both of them quickly masked by a blank expression.

"She doesn't trust you." Macbeth eventually said.

Baffled by the too simple answer, the blonde couldn't hold back his words. "Did I do something wrong?" He wondered out loud.

Macbeth breathed out a bitter, hollow laugh. "You didn't do anything, Erika is just very… she doesn't trust people in general, strange men even less. That's not something that is likely to change anytime soon or maybe at all." The black and white haired man looked at the mage by his side; he could see the moment when the blonde realized the true meaning of his words.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Erika wasn't that far away, in actuality she was very close by, lurking in the shadows of the fire and out of sight, listening in to the hushed conversation. She appreciated the way her brother didn't reveal all that happened to her, saying what he felt necessary to ease the mind of the younger man without giving away anything of true meaning.

She heard the shift in Lucas' soul, the rage and disgust he felt for the monsters that created the monster she was, were rivaled only by his respect for her.

It was strange – most people didn't respect the raped and tortured, they pitied the poor souls and therefore underestimated her. Which wasn't too horrible, she mused, since she loved showing the very few unlucky bastards that somehow found out how wrong they are, usually by making them scream and bleed, and then scream some more.

But, as she was finally starting to understand, Lucas Heartfilia _wasn't_ most people; in fact, she was starting to think he was truly one of a kind.

Lucas respected her because she endured.

He was smart, and from what little Titania had told him about the Tower and thanks to Macbeth's carefully chosen words, the former Fairy managed to come up with too many scenarios without Macbeth's help. He imagined what she might have been through, knowing with certainty that anything his mind came up with probably didn't even scratch the surface, and marveled at the fact that the woman was still intact.

 _And she's still willing to fight off anyone that questions her_ , she heard him think.

If anyone were ever to ask Erika to pinpoint just when she decided to give Lucas a chance, she would tell them that it was that night.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

After that night things changed. It was subtle, but as months passed, things gradually changed, as things tended to do.

Erika paid attention to Lucas' every move, scrutinizing him whenever she could; the only difference in his attitude towards her was that instead of fearing her or pitying her, the blonde interacted with her with confidence that sometimes even the former members of Oracion Seis couldn't master.

He treated her like an _equal_.

More than anyone else in her life, Lucas Heartfilia, an heir, a Fairy, one of the purest individuals she ever came across (if anyone told her he was a saint or a real angel she would take their word for it and wouldn't bat an eye), considered _her_ his equal.

It made her feel warm all over, and she had to fight off a blush every time he smiled at her after she held back a punch or resisted the urge to just kill people when they confronted dark guilds.

The tingly feelings made her want to punch him and break his perfect nose.

The only thing worse than her own out of control feelings was that she could hear his soul singing for hers, his feelings clear to him, yet the blonde never made a move or voiced his emotions.

The frustration made her want to shave his perfect golden hair in his sleep.

Erika found herself constantly torn between wanting to punch him until he passed out for making her head spin all the time, and thanking him for leaving the choice in her hands.

Both Erika and the Viper were well known for being painfully blunt. Both knew what they wanted and how to get it and not many things could stop them… as of late, Erika realized miserably, the only thing stopping her from taking that step with Lucas was herself.

At first she was uncertain of her feelings, and when she was finally sure of what she felt, all she could think of was why she _couldn't_ , why she _absolutely shouldn't_.

In her head she had a mile-long list of reasons (excuses) why it wasn't even possible, why it wouldn't ever work, but in the end all of her one-thousand-and-one reasons ( _excuses_ ) were meant to hide one simple truth: in her entire life Erika had never experienced love. The closest thing to it she knew was the very, _extremely platonic_ affection she shared with Macbeth, and what she heard in the souls of by-passers, and now that she was finally feeling what was considered the most powerful emotion, she didn't know how to handle it.

The urge to let her frustrations out by killing someone was getting stronger by the day.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

When almost a year had passed after Lucas joined them, Natsu came looking for him; he was reforming Fairy Tail, and he wanted his brother with him.

Lucas was speechless and breathless - all of the air in his lungs had left him. His blood was pumping through his veins.

It was what he dreamed about for many nights, what he longed to happen for months after the disbandment of his family… but he couldn't leave.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lucas saw Erika's body stiffen before she vanished into the shadows of the forest. He winced as he knew that it had to be his fault; she must have heard his thoughts and he scared her off.

He turned the pink haired Dragon Slayer and his exceed down, and ran after the other Dragon Slayer. The blonde didn't actually believe she would let him anywhere near her, he knew better than to think he that was lucky. But she did, and now he had to confront his feelings _and_ her.

Her one eyed glare probably would have caused lesser men to faint.

"You should have left with your brother."

"I probably should have, yes."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Why did you run all the way out here?" he countered.

"You two were being too loud." _Excuses_ , Erika was sure she heard him think. Or maybe it was her.

Lucas had nothing to say to that, he figured the turmoil of emotions in him was probably too much; it's not like he could control it like she did.

"I'm not leaving with Natsu."

"He's your family." She told him.

"… Some people say that you can't choose your family, but I did." He searched her eye, not caring if her gaze charred him. " _Twice_."

"You're an idiot."

He smiled at her, "I found a family here, with you."

She said nothing, allowing him to keep talking. "I like all of you, even if you tried to kill me at some point. I want to stay."

"You'll get yourself killed."

"Possibly," the smile didn't leave his face, "But I doubt you'd let me. You'd kill me if I ever come close to it."

"You're a fucking idiot."

"Erika… I promise I'm not leaving you." His eyes were burning with passion, and Erika knew that when he said ' _you_ ', he meant ' _her_ '.

When had anyone in her life ever offered her anything like this before? A promise like this? How many times had she heard him say that a Celestial Spirit mage's word was everything, that he never broke a promise?

He was better than her – a better person, a better everything, but she wanted him, and she was selfish; she would always be selfish in a way he never will.

So she kissed him. It was short and chaste, a press of her lips to his where all she could hear was their heartbeats rocketing and racing one another's.

When she stepped back Lucas could have sworn her tan cheeks were a shade darker than normal, but he was smarter than to comment on that.

"So… I think everyone is probably waiting for us," He told her with a happy grin. "We were on our way to kick some Zeref-worshipping ass."

"Yeah." She grumbled, but led the way back to their guild. Family. Friends. Allies.

 _So this is love, huh?_ She mused, _it could've have been worse._

 **()()  
(O.O)**

 **Word count: 2451**

 **Okay so let's start from dedicating this one to ObselikX that asked me to write a gender-bent Colu fic on fucking MARCH (there you go dude!).**

 **I would also like to thank MistressAva (as always) for beta-ing this at like 3 a.m. More thanks goes from all of you to my pseudo husband Cuddlecakes who is not on this site and will probably not read this (although I think I might have gotten him to like Colu) for convincing me TO NOT KILL LUCAS IN THE END!**

 **I didn't really like the way this fic ended, I thought it didn't really work, and at some point I was like - what if Lucas died?! Holy shit that's amazing! And I already had this scene in my head where _Crime are fighting whoever and Lucas is badly injured and Erika just goes there and holds him and then he's like "I chose this, I want this, I'm really happy I got to do all of this with you"_ and it was really sappy and it started growing on me and thanks to Cuddlecakes you still have this kiss XD**

 **BTW Lucas's staff is like the one Cat Noir from Miraculous Ladybug has.**

 **To any of you amazing people that I keep disappointing that are with me since LaLu Week 2016, you might already know that it might seem like I'm posting things a day early, but I usually just wait until it's past midnight for me and post those one-shots because I'm excited as fuck so technically it's already the 20th for me and you get an early update - it's a win-win situation if you ask me~**

 **DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW~**


	3. Online: Kind of Girl I Am

**Day 3: Online**

 **Kind of Girl I Am**

"Stop!"

The brunette let go of her hand and turned to look at her with raised brows. "What?"

"You mean to tell me that we're going to meet people you met in a poker game online?!"

"What? No," Cana told her quickly. "I met only one of them in the game, the other one is your date; I told you my guy is bringing a friend."

Lucy gaped at her, not believing what she was hearing. "Cana!" she screeched, "How could you not tell me that before?!"

"You would have freaked out! Like you're doing _right now_ , by the way. Come on Lu, just loosen up for one night." The brunette held her hands up pleadingly.

"No! This is insane. Who agrees to meet strangers they met in some game online, a _poker_ game – which probably means they're some gamblers that will lose all your money – in real life? What made you think this was a good idea?" Lucy tried to rationalize to her friend.

Cana being who she was, and that is to say a spontaneous and risk-taking person, heard none of it and took the blonde's hands in her own. "Luce, this isn't a drug deal, it's a _double date_ , with two really hot guys."

"You've never met them before!" the blonde protested again.

"So it's a _blind_ double date. Point is that you need to stop worrying so much. Keep this up and you'll be a 30 year old with grey hair and wrinkles, and while I'm sure you'll be lovely, you need to party more and old ladies can't party, which means I will have to find a new drinking partner." Cana's lips curled into a pout and Lucy pouted back, both girls knowing who won this round.

"Why do I let you do this to me? I was so normal and sane two years ago…" Lucy mock complained to her friend as they linked arms and started walking again.

The brunette photographer grinned and laughed, "You were pretty bored too."

The journalist grinned too and giggled, "Yeah, I was."

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

"You know, one would assume _I_ would be the nervous one out of the two of us," Cana said nonchalantly, "seeing as how you don't even want to be here."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter, it's still a date and I'm allowed to be nervous. Besides, why are they so late anyway?"

This time it was Cana who rolled her eyes."Not everyone can be as punctual as you, Luce."

The blonde grumbled under her breath but a shadow looming over her had the young journalist looking up at two very tall men.

"Does one of you lovely ladies happen to be Cana Alberona?" the taller, blonde man asked with a charming smile.

Cana perked up slowly in her seat and Lucy resisted rolling her eyes at her friend's flirty behavior. "That would be me," she replied with a saucy smile. "I take it you're Laxus?"

"Yeah." His grey eyes scanned over the brunette's body appreciatively. He took one of her hands and pressed a kiss to the photographer's knuckles. "It's nice to add a face to a name, especially with a face as pretty as that."

This time Lucy didn't stop her eyes from rolling, although she stopped paying attention to those two interacting. Instead she looked at the other man. He was slightly shorter than Laxus, his hair an unnatural maroon color and his eyes a unique shade of violet.

She couldn't help but check him out much like Laxus did Cana only moments ago. He looked amazing.

Or he would have if it wasn't for the frown shadowing his features. The blonde felt her brows furrow just a bit at the look he was giving her as he sat down across from her.

She couldn't have possibly done anything wrong yet, so what was his problem? Choosing to ignore whatever foul mood he might be in, she stretched out her hand with a small smile.

"Hi, my name is Lucy."

He reluctantly shook her hand before pulling it away quickly. "Erik."

A waitress came at that moment and prevented things from getting even more awkward than they already were.

Lucy wanted to groan at her best friend's ignorance. Why was she even here? Why did she agree to go to this strange – and completely _bizarre_ – double date in the first place?

Well, it doesn't matter much now either way, she did, so now she had to at least try.

"So…" she started, "How were you dragged here?"

Erik raised a brow, amusement flickering in his ridiculously violet eyes, before answering in a monotone voice that sent shivers down her spine. "I was drunk and offered free food for a month."

She hummed thoughtfully. "Free food is no joke; my roommate keeps eating all of mine so I know what I'm talking about. Better than what I got, that's for sure."

A smirk began to form on his lips. "You showed up for anything less than a month worth of food?" this time Erik was the one to shamelessly check _her_ out, causing the shivers to return. "On second thought, that might have been a waste on you Barbie, do you even eat?"

Lucy's brows shot up, "' _Barbie_ '?"

His smirk was widening, exposing white teeth and his smugness. "A pretty, skinny, blonde in a pink dress; sounds like a Barbie doll to me, don't you agree?"

His voice sounded like a drug to her – bad, addictive, and her definite doom. She blushed, and to think he didn't even want to be here three minutes ago!

"So what were you offered to come here? I'm curious now."

Blowing a stray lock of blonde hair from her eye, the young journalist leaned forward and rested her chin on her intertwined fingers, her arms propped on the edge of the table. "I was blackmailed. Cana is my partner – she takes the pictures, I write the articles – and unfortunately that means that we're joined at the hip most of the time, and since Cana has this paranormal ability to get everyone around her drunk at almost any given moment, that means she has enough extortion material for a life time."

"I pity anyone getting on her bad side."

Lucy laughed, "You should."

"What kind of articles?"

"Not the kind I want to write, but a girl has to eat." She replied with a shrug, "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a private investigator; I get paid to dig into people's life and finding all of their dark, dirty secrets." He grinned.

"And h-how do you do that?" she stuttered.

His grin turned predatory, "I'm just very good at figuring people out."

She gulped, "Oh, I bet you are..." she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" The evil grin turned into a smirk again.

"Nothing! It's just… it has to be an interesting job, huh?"

Erik leaned back and crossed his arms, "Fun too, when you know what you're doing."

Then Lucy smiled, a twinkle in her brown eyes, finally over her initial shock. "Is that like Sherlock Holmes? Can you… know stuff about someone just by looking at them?"

The investigator's lips thinned into a tight line, although a barely there twist of his lips up could be seen. "Would you like me to do you?" his smug smirk returned after a minute.

Lucy flushed at the innuendo, her face and neck matching her pink dress. "That must be a great party trick, but I rather not be… analyzed on the first date."

"Not on the first, eh? Then when do you think it's appropriate to analyze your date?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Hmm… never; though it can probably be a really good test for possible girlfriends if you do it like Sherlock did in the movies – if she can handle it, keep her, if not then move on." The blonde grinned.

He seemed thoughtful for a moment, but just as he opened his mouth to say more, the waitress came back with their food. He seemed to change his mind and the rest of the evening kept in much the same way.

Cana and Laxus left to god knows where just after dinner, and Erik escorted her back to her apartment, ten blocks away from the restaurant.

They were standing outside of the old building she called home, neither one of them wanted to stop talking but both knowing that this was where they had to say goodbye.

"I'm not sure if it would work between the two of us." The investigator suddenly said out of the blue just as she was working up the courage to give him her number.

"Oh?"

His smirk was playful. "You're a Superman kind of girl, and I'm a Batman guy." He said with mock remorse.

The journalist laughed, possibly more than she did during the entire dinner, before shaking her head and smiling up at him. "You're wrong."

"Am I?"

"I'm actually more of a _Spiderman_ kind of girl. Good night Erik." And then she kissed his cheek before going up the stairs of the old redbrick building.

"Aren't you going to at least give me your number?" he called after her.

"You're an investigator – investigate!"

(The morning after, Cana could be found in the office wearing yesterday's clothes, grinning like a Cheshire cat, squeezing every detail of the end of the night from her partner and sharing every detail of the ending of her night in return.)

(The day after that, a bouquet of pink tulips was sent to her at the office, with a note on which was scribbled 'Found you' and a phone number underneath.)

(After three years Erik finally 'analyzed' her and she said he was cheating. As an answer he gave her a ring and asked her to marry him.)

(She said yes.)

 **()()  
(O.O)**

 **Word count: 1647**

 **I have no idea how I came up with the idea for this so don't bother asking. This chapter is also for Cuddlecakes, who dared me to add Batman to it. He said that if I did he would read it - even though he hates Colu and crack-ships in general - so I did, and he enjoyed the Colu so much he started reading more! So yeah, this is pretty nice.**

 **What do you think about Cobra's job? I think it suits him...**


	4. Color: What Matters Most

**Day 4: Color**

 **What Matters Most**

It was unclear if things had always been this way, or if at some point in time something changed to make the world this way, but either way, it was known that you can't see colors until you've looked into the eyes of your soulmate.

Of course it wasn't as clear-cut as it sounds; nothing ever was. It was known that people had two soulmates: one of them was your other Half, the love of your life, and the other one was your Twin, your best friend.

It was easy to tell the difference - if you met your Twin soulmate then you are able to see the color of their hair and eyes, but if you meet that one person, your other Half, your better half, then you can see all the colors in the world.

It still seems kind of simple doesn't it? Well, nothing is ever just black and white in the world, there are grays, and shades, and depth, and humans are just like that too. Instead of waiting for the one person that would complete them, humans who've met their Twin sometimes don't want to wait for their Half, a stranger, to give them color, sometimes they fall in love with their best friends; they're supposed to be life-long companions anyway, what does it matter if the type of relationship they have is a different one than the one they're supposed to have?

It was so easy, falling in love with someone you're not supposed to; the appeal of the idea was strong enough on its own, but coupled with the fact that your Twin was a match to you in most (if not all) ways, it was near impossible for many to not make the mistake of falling for the wrong person.

It didn't really matter in the end, as most people come to their senses once they meet their Half, except for those rare cases when they don't, and in these cases... well, not everyone gets a happy ending.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

Lucy was always a happy person. She was born into a life where everyone made sure she was always happy, and later on, when she lost her mother and father and so many reasons to be happy, she was still smiling.

She was a novelist, and by default a romantic, and she was eager to meet her soulmate just a tad bit more than the average person.

She didn't understand why or how people fell in love with their Twins – whenever she looked at Natsu eat she thanked every and any god that heard her that he was her Twin and not her Half – it was an absurd idea in her mind to settle for something less than perfect when all you had to do was wait.

She waited for years to finally meet her Half, which meant she had years to imagine him: he would be kind, caring, funny, loved reading, smart, intellectual, tall, handsome, strong.

He would be perfect.

However, while her Half would possess most of these traits, he would not possess all, and perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he lacked the most 'important' ones.

You see, Erik didn't enjoy many things in his life as much as he enjoyed bursting people's bubbles and shattering their dreams. His Half included.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

Erik walked through the masses with a scowl so dark, the crowd split before him to clear his path, and he was almost thankful if he wasn't so busy wanting to strangle the girl that dared to slam into him, causing him to drop the stack of papers he held in his arms, and for the papers to mix with the ones she dropped herself.

Neither of them expected to look up and suddenly see a whole new world, a world they didn't know until that moment.

There were many ways to describe Erik Nox, but happy to meet his Half was _not_ one of them. No, Erik collected his papers as best as he could and as fast as he could, before running off and away from his Half, the scowl still etched on his face.

"Wait!" he didn't stop, nor did he look back as she called out to him. He was slightly dizzy, the onslaught of color was overwhelming, and he didn't want to look at her face, the wrong face. He never wanted to meet his Half.

He had to slow down eventually, when he neared the Sciences and Mathematics building of Crocus University – where he had a biology class in ten minutes and he had to give his paperwork to his professor – ultimately giving his Half the chance to catch up to him.

Trying to block his path, the girl managed to wheeze out "Why did you run from me?" her large doe eyes confused and hurt.

Unlike everyone else, she wasn't intimidated by the scar that closed his eye, and she didn't cower at the might of his scowl, she stared back and waited for an answer he didn't care to give.

"I'm not interested in a Half."

Both ignored the hurt the amplified in her eyes at that, but it dimmed and she was quick to question him again. "Why not?"

"That is none of your business."

This time it was anger that flashed in her eyes, and Erik couldn't help but find the bristling girl similar to an angry cat. "It is my business since I'm your Half."

"As if I give a fuck; now get lost."

Now, Lucy was probably as far from being an angry person as one could be, but this was her breaking point. "Why are you treating me like this? I've done nothing to you!" she exclaimed.

His scowl deepened further when he noticed the attention they were attracting. "You expect me to care about a stranger I've never seen before in my life, because _something_ said you and I are meant to be together or some sort of bullshit like that? Well guess what, I _don't want_ some stranger's life to fuck mine over! I never asked for you and I don't care what dreams you filled your head with, but I'm not gonna play along with them." He hissed.

It was as if he stung her – suddenly the girl was too shocked to prevent him from going around her and into the building, and he didn't wait for her to regain her wits as he left her behind with the intention of never seeing her again if he could help it.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

The following two weeks were hard on Lucy, for it was unheard of to be rejected by your Half without any explanation or anything to go on at all. She didn't know his name, or where he lived, or why he was so against the idea of having a Half, or why of all the people in the world he had to be her Half.

Her friends tried to cheer her up, but nothing helped her overcome the hurt of being rejected. Had he loved his Twin? Was that why he pushed her away?

Since that fateful encounter she'd stayed cooped up in the apartment she shared with Natsu, only leaving it for short breaks when she felt like she couldn't breathe anymore, but then one day she decided enough was enough, and that she had to stop moping around and do something to fix this.

So she went to the Soulmates Registration Offices, where in some magical way no one really understood (including the people working there) all soulmates of both kinds were listed after meeting for the first time, and there she found out the name of her Half and also where she could find him.

As she walked up the stairs to his apartment, Lucy became more self-conscious than ever, and while she realized how stalker-like her behavior was, she also knew that she had to do this.

When she knocked she never expected to see a familiar face at the door - Sorano Agria opened the door and she seemed just as surprised as the blonde.

"Lucy? What are you doing here? Oh never mind that, come in!" as the older sister of Lucy's childhood friend, Sorano became somewhat like an older sister to her as well, since she took care of her constantly.

She still hadn't closed her mouth as Sorano walked her into the living room and placed her on the couch before sitting next to her.

"So? What are you doing here? Did you get lost?"

Lucy shook her head no, slowly starting to form words. "I'm looking for my Half… he's supposed to live here, I think."

The white haired woman raised a brow, "You think?"

"Well, you see…" her words faded as a man walked out of the hallway in the direction of the kitchen behind her. She couldn't help but stare at him, and he stared back, just as surprised to actually see her.

"Lu? What's wrong? Cobra get out of here, you're scaring the girl!" Sorano chastised her friend before the blonde at her side hurried to speak up.

"No, wait! He's my Half! He is why I'm here!" then she turned to the maroon haired man in the room, "I thought your name was Erik…?"

"How the fuck did you even find me? And only my friends call me Erik, you're not my friend." He hissed.

"Shut it, both of you," Sorano said before Lucy managed to say anything else. "What is going on here? And what the hell does she mean by you being her Half?!"

When it became obvious the answer would not be supplied by Erik, the blonde spoke again. "T-two weeks ago Er-Cobra," she stuttered, "ran into me, or I ran into him, it doesn't matter, point is, we're each other's Halves. And since Eri-Cobra," she corrected herself again, "didn't tell me his name, I just went to the SRO and they told me to look for him here… which I did."

Sorano took it all in in silence, and for a few tense minutes silence was the only sound in the small apartment, until Sorano turned her furious eyes to Cobra who stood several feet away and glared back when she shouted, "You met your Half and you didn't tell us?!"

He rolled his eyes, "You know how I feel about Halves, I don't get why you're so surprised."

"I'm being so surprised because I figured you would have at least told us you met her, but apparently I was wrong."

"Don't make such a big deal out of it, so I have a Half, so what? Nothing's changed."

"Oh, don't you dare give me that crap! She deserves none of this and at least an explanation!"

"The fuck do you mean 'she deserves an explanation'? She deserves nothing at all, and I don't deserve any of this either! Fuck you and your stupid ideology, I'm not explaining shit to her and you can't make me!"

Lucy flinched at his words as if he had hit her; she didn't know what exactly was going, but being rejected a second time hurt no less than it did the first time.

It seemed as if his words affected Sorano too, because the older girl quieted and calmed down significantly.

"I know you're still grieving, we all are, but Lucy still deserves an explanation."

"I. Don't. Care." He hissed one final time before storming out of the apartment.

Silence once more took over the space of the apartment, and Lucy debated whether she should just leave; she was clearly not welcome here.

Just as she got up Sorano took hold of her wrist and prevented her from moving. "If he's going to be a dick, the least I can do is explain to you why."

And she did.

Apparently her speculations weren't completely baseless – Erik met his Twin at the young age of five and grew up with her at the same foster house. When they both hit puberty and showed interest in the opposite sex it didn't take them long to fall for each other and for almost thirteen years they were very happy together; that is until last year when the two of them were in a car accident in which Kinana (his Twin) had died and Erik lost his eye.

As was evident to pretty much anyone, he did not handle it well.

Unsure how to handle all of this new information, the novelist was reassured by her pseudo sister that she could stay for a few more hours until she digested it all, but the blonde shook her head, only asking for a pen and some paper.

It was always so easy for her to sort through everything once it was written before her, so she did that, and once her thoughts were no longer scattered in her head she worked through the problem that was her situation.

She figured Cobra wouldn't want to talk to her and that even if he was willing to face her, she probably would have said something wrong and screwed it up, so instead she wrote him a letter.

The words flew from her mind, through her hand, and to the page with ease. Lucy explained that she understood why he didn't want anything to do with her, but that didn't mean that she agree with him.

 _If you want your Twin to be your Half, at least let your Half be your Twin – we are meant to be in each others lives in some way, you don't have to suffer in solitude. I expect nothing from you except acknowledgment._

She left her cellphone and home numbers, home address, and email, informing him that he would always be welcome in her life.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

Lucy didn't hear from her Half for five months after that. She didn't try to contact him again, and she mentioned him to no one, rather choosing to focus on learning about all these new colors she could suddenly see; it was breathtaking every minute of every day and she never grew tired of looking for new colors.

For once in her life she cherished mornings (although she still needed coffee to pump into her veins in equal amounts to blood before she was anything close to coherent), which meant she was able to answer the call from an unknown number at 6:55 a.m. one Tuesday morning.

"Hi, wh-"

"Is that Lucy Heartfilia?" being caught unprepared, Lucy just barely managed to let out a confused confirmation before the deep voice sounded again. "Listen, it's Cobra, I need a favor."

"… Uh, sure; what is it?"

"You got a printer?"

"Yes…?" it came out as more of a question, as the blonde was still trying to grasp the fact her Half actually called her.

"Can you print something for me?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm gonna email you the file and I'll come pick it up in twenty, can ya have it ready for me by then?"

"Um, sure."

"Great, see ya in a bit." And just like that he hung up.

Sure enough, when Lucy finally shook off her confused daze and checked her email's inbox she saw that she received an email from **slayercobra .fi** with a file attached.

"Okay then…"

She eventually printed it (a work about the structure of hydro-deoxy-carbons or something in snake venom), leaving the papers on the printer and not touching it for fear of doing something wrong, and then making her favorite tea as she waited for Cobra to arrive.

As promised, Cobra showed up not long after she settled with a steaming mug of tea in her hand. He was panting slightly, as if he ran the entire way to her apartment… which started to seem very likely by the looks of him (not that she was complaining).

"Uh… would you like to come in?" she offered hesitantly.

He nodded, following her back into the apartment and standing somewhat awkwardly at the entrance to the kitchen where she placed her mug of tea and then, as an afterthought almost, she asked: "Would you like something to drink?" her question cracking the ice a little.

"… Some water would be nice." He said eventually.

She smiled warmly at him and seconds later he was presented with a glass of cold water.

"… Thanks." He murmured.

Her smile didn't falter even though she saw how uncomfortable he was in her strange yellow and blue kitchen. "I'll go bring you your papers," she said before disappearing behind him.

She took that time to calm her beating heart and rein her emotions. When she returned he seemed to not have moved at all, except that the glass in his hand was empty.

"There you go." She handed him the small stack of papers.

"Thanks for that, I ran out of paper at home so… yeah, thanks…" he said.

"It was no problem at all," she reassured him. "I work from here most of the time anyway, and I'm happy to help a friend whenever I can."

Cobra's eye shifted from her uncomfortably when she said the word 'friend'. "I need to go."

"Oh." She blinked up at him. "Okay."

She walked him back to the door, and right after he stepped out she grabbed the sleeve of his coat, surprising both of them.

"Listen, I know this probably doesn't mean anything, but I know that you at least read my letter and I wanted you to know I meant it – we don't have to do anything about us being each others Halves, but I would still like to be a part of your life, no matter how small and insignificant," Lucy shifted in her place by the door. "Please consider that," She whispered.

Cobra nodded once and left once he realized she was finished. Lucy shut the door after him and groaned. Why did it have to be so complicated?

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

It was known that people had two soulmates: one of them was your other Half, the love of your life, and the other one was your Twin, your best friend.

Some people are impatient. They don't want to wait for their Half if they've already found their Twin. Many times they fall in love with their Twin instead of their Half. It didn't really matter in the end, as most people come to their senses once they meet their Half, except for those rare cases when they don't, and in these cases... well, not everyone gets a happy ending.

Erik Nox fell in love with his Twin over a decade before he met his Half and although by then his Twin was dead, he always thought he would never be with his Half.

He never expected to be the Half of someone like Lucy Heartfilia. Like a wave hitting a rock repeatedly, the blonde novelist reshaped Erik over time, slowly carving her way into his life, mind, and heart.

At the beginning he kept his distance, occasionally asking small favors like the first one (he really needed to stop putting off buying more toner), until one time when she asked a favor from him.

 _"You want to do what in my apartment?"_

 _"I want to bake a surprise birthday cake for my roommate. I planned on doing it at a friend's house but right now everyone is either keeping him away from the apartment or actually doing the decorating part, so I just need a kitchen."_

 _When he didn't answer right away she quickly added "I'll bake some for you too as compensation!"_

 _"Make that a vanilla cake and you got yourself a kitchen."_

 _She laughed, "Sure thing. I'll come around 2 p.m."_

After the three and a half hours of baking cakes at his apartment (and a lot of meddling courtesy Sorano, Meredy, Yukino, and Macbeth), the two began to spend more time together, as friends and nothing more. Erik found himself accepting her initial offer – he accepted his Half as his Twin.

All of their friends were shocked but (reluctantly) accepted that as well (her friends more than his – Jellal lectured him for hours, Sorano slapped him, Meredy ignored him for nearly two months, and Macbeth did his best to embarrass him in public as many times as he could and he never stopped reminding him of what a huge mistake he was doing – Lucy's friends supported whatever made her happy). In the end they all gave up when they realized the two of them wouldn't change their minds. It was a strange sort of relationship that they had, and the public thought so too.

They ignored the public.

A year after they became friends, Lucy's roommate, Natsu, met his Half, Juvia, and within three months he moved out to live with her. Lucy hated the loneliness his departure caused and asked Erik to move into the room the pink haired firefighter vacated, bribing him with as many vanilla cakes as he wanted and a better printer. After two weeks it was like he had always lived there.

However, Erik moving in didn't change their strange relationship to the astonishment of everyone. As more time passed, he kept expecting the novelist to change her mind and ask him to treat her like his Half, for that was what she was – his Half.

But she didn't. Days turned to weeks, turned to months, turned to years. Six years after they met for the first time Erik snapped.

"Doesn't it matter to you anymore? Aren't you upset? Do you even care?"

Lucy looked at him with surprise. She just come back from a three day long business trip about one of her novels being adapted into a movie and she asked him to watch some movie where a couple of Halves discovered their families hated each other and they had to fight their families in order to be together.

They stayed like that for a while, just looking at each others eyes. Lucy turned off the TV but kept looking at it as if she didn't before finally replying.

"It doesn't matter as much as everyone thinks it does; I know you care for me, even if it's not in the way you're expected to and I care for you too. I'm not usually upset about it. At first I guess I was kind of upset; it was hard when all of my friends finally met their Halves and got married, but unless I think about it a lot it doesn't bother me." After that her brown eyes shifted back to him, her soft voice kept even and calm, betraying nothing (he really was a bad influence on her).

"I don't care. I told you that I want to be a part of your life in any way you'll accept me, even if you treat me as your Twin and not your Half." She smiled then, just a small and reassuring smile that always made his heart miss a beat. "You needed a Twin, and I was willing to be one. It's not the relationship we're supposed to have, but you and I never did anything the normal way anyway. Being your friend is enough for me, I don't need more."

Her hand squeezed his and he was only half aware of her kissing his cheek before retiring for bed.

He didn't sleep that night.

Four hours after he was left by himself at the living room, Erik packed a bag and left the apartment, only leaving a messily scrawled note claiming he would be back soon.

Two days later he returned. He unlocked the door and stepped in quietly in the middle of the night, only to discover his Half sitting in his spot on the couch, leaning on Natsu with tears running down her cheeks.

It took Lucy a moment to come to her senses, and suddenly she tackled him with a hug, bombarding him with questions. "One at a time Barbie, I will answer everything, I promise." He soothed, carding his fingers through her hair.

She nodded into his shoulder, not loosening her grip on him, just stopping the stream of questions.

Juvia (bless that girl for taming her Half) chose that moment to emerge from the still yellow and blue kitchen, she quickly understood what was happening and rushed to her Half's side to stop him from attacking the maroon haired man.

With a hushed "Juvia thinks Natsu and her should give Lucy and Erik some privacy to talk about… stuff," she dragged the infuriated shorter man past the two of them and out of the apartment.

"Relax Barbie, everything's fine…" he kept comforting her. He picked her up and carried her back to the couch, sitting in his spot but keeping the blonde in his lap.

They held one another for a long time before Lucy started questioning him again.

"Where have you been?! I was so worried!" she said into his shirt.

"I needed some time to think." His fingers rubbed small circles into her back.

"And you couldn't do it here?"

"No, I needed to be away from everyone." He tried to explain.

"That's a stupid reason," she sniffled, "I thought something happened to you."

"Didn't you see my note?"

The blonde pinched his arm. "It said ' _I need to do some stuff, don't worry, I'll be back before you notice._ ' and you disappeared for two days. You didn't answer your phone, or say where you went, or what you were doing, or when you'd come back. _Of course_ I was worried."

"Sorry?"

"You should be." She pinched him again, harder this time.

"Ow."

"Idiot…" he chuckled.

Lucy finally let go of him to pull back enough to make eye contact. "So what was so important that you had to vanish for two days?"

Both of his hands stilled, the one in his Half's hair moved to cup her cheek, and he wiped a stray tear with his thumb. "Twenty years ago I met my Twin when she moved in to my foster home, and we were inseparable. Six years later we fell in love and made a pact that we would only ever love each other like that and fuck Halves and anyone that says otherwise. Seven years after that she died and my world felt like it was falling apart because she _was_ my world…"

"And then I met _you_. You didn't care that I loved my Twin and you didn't care that I wanted you out of my life. You agreed to be second to her when you should have been the only one and you never said a word, or complained, or pushed for more. You took what I gave when you deserved so much _more_.

"I practically ignored your existence for a year but in the last six years you always stayed by my side, and you're the best thing that could have happened to me, and being like my Twin might be enough for you, but I want you to be my Half… and I think I might be in love with you."

Her brown doe eyes were open in surprise, her lips forming an O.

"You…" an airy laugh left her, causing him to frown, "Please don't make that face." Lucy raised her small hands from their current place on his chest to his face, smoothing his face with light touch of her fingers.

"You always were good with words… you needed two days to figure all of that out?" She whispered. Lucy pressed her forehead to his, her hands staying on his now relaxed features.

"Don't be cocky Barbie, it doesn't suit ya." Both of them smiled lightly at that.

Erik closed his eye and treasured the way she felt so close to him, content in that moment more than he had been in a long time.

He stayed like that for a while, eventually feeling the blonde shift on his lap, he assumed to get up and put some distance between them. That's when he felt her lips pressed gently to his.

His heart stopped, his eye snapped open and his breath caught in his throat. Before he managed to restart his brain and respond to the kiss, Lucy pulled back.

"I would love to be your Half, Erik."

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

It was known that people had two soulmates: one of them was your other Half, the love of your life, and the other one was your Twin, your best friend.

Some people are impatient. They don't want to wait for their Half if they've already found their Twin. Many times they fall in love with their Twin instead of their Half. It didn't really matter in the end, as most people come to their senses once they meet their Half, except for those rare cases when they don't.

Erik Nox and Lucy Heartfilia were far from normal soulmates. They were closer than Twins and more in love with each other than most Halves.

They were happy, and they were together, and they were happiest when they were together, and in the end that was all that mattered.

 **()()  
(O.O)**

 **Word count: 4849**

 **Who asked for a Colu soulmates AU and didn't get one? I did! So I wrote one~**

 **There might be some inconsistencies about the years but the math is giving me a headache so I just left it alone... Other than that, I'm pretty sure I only ruined Erik's character once when he confessed his love but I needed him to do it eventually...**

 **PLEASE BE NICE PEOPLE AND REVIEW~!**


	5. Answers: The Screechers

**The Screechers**

The creatures his schizophrenic mind conjured at his childhood were thirsty for blood more than ever after he let them have a taste of it.

He was diagnosed at a young age, but his body always got used to the meds (when he could actually afford them) too quickly, which meant he had to stop taking them as they didn't work within months. His hallucinations were not of the typical kind – while most schizophrenic people had a fish, or a dog, or a person that would try to make them do things like running to the middle of the road, Erik saw creatures that looked like the Nerdlucks in that Looney Toons movie from the 90's.

The 'Screechers' (as he dubbed them distastefully because of their shrill voices and the high pitched noises they created) hid behind the eyes of people, taunting him, sometimes even moving the eyeballs so he could see them, and then proceeding to tease and mock him. They would push him and shove, daring him to kill them, laughing at him when he wouldn't.

He knew he had Screechers of his own; he couldn't see them of course – when they rolled his eyeballs so they could see outside of his head he could see the inside of his skull, something they took pleasure in doing when he was a little boy – but he knew they were there without seeing them because they were the loudest of all of them, and he could feel them sometimes behind his eyes, squirming and twisting like the little insects they resembled.

His Screechers were the worst Screechers. They would keep him up at night, convincing him to try to scratch his eyes out, manipulating him to poke people's eyes. They spoke in a place he couldn't do anything to shut them up except for scream until he couldn't hear them, only stopping when his voice was too hoarse to make a sound, allowing them to laugh madly for hours.

They became worse as he grew up. As Erik worked hard to start building himself a stable life, his Screechers worked harder on getting him out of balance. He wasn't exactly sure what pushed him over the edge (figuratively, at least – he was crazy long before that), but one night he decided enough is enough, got himself a knife and went to the streets to kill all of the Screechers he could see.

Every Screecher that turned the eyes of a human to look at the spectacle soon found itself speared by the cutting knife. The entire thing was a blur for him – one moment he was at home, eating noodles, and in the next he was standing in a street and surrounded by cops aiming their guns at him, yelling at him to drop the knife.

Alas, his Screechers were egging him on; they reveled at the sight of the bodies and the blood. He just wanted them to shut up!

He didn't drop the knife – he drove it into his own eye.

He was on the verge of tears when he woke up to find he was not, in fact, dead.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

Six months after Erik's trial began the press still hadn't had its fill – his story was unique and everyone wanted to hear it, so Jellal, his attorney (a brunet that was good enough to get him a better verdict if he was a normal person), suggested that a friend of his would come once a week and write his 'story', his side and motivation, and how it all happened, etc.

It took some convincing, but after a few weeks he agreed to meet the girl, and here he was now – longing for someone in a way he never had before, about to die, and with nothing to do about it either.

Erik watched her enter with the same ease as she did every week (even the first one); her head turned as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at one of the guards.

And then she looked at him, and her smile didn't falter. She greeted him the way one would greet an old friend, someone you knew for years (and he supposed that by now they were like that too, in a weird twisted way), but now they were sitting at a café, reminiscing over that one time in high school, or college, or whatever.

He figured she was one of those people whom did all of that - he thought it fit her personality - in fact, he could clearly see her sitting at the small table in the corner of the café he used to pass by every day as he went to and from work. She would sit by the window, sipping smoldering tea, writing her novel.

But the colorful picture his mind conjured vaporized as she sat on the other side of the metal table and casually pulled out the recorder, her little sketchpad, and the weird pink pencil as she always did.

"Hey Erik, how are you today?" she asked calmly, but he paid attention enough to notice the barely there tremble in her voice.

He snorted while she set up the recorder. "Don't go sappy on me now; it's our last meet after all."

She stilled at his words, but only for a moment before she continued to prep. He didn't really see the point of doing that today of all days –it was the last time they will get to talk. Ever. Was she really planning to do another session right now?

"Please don't say that. I know that's what you wanted, but it's harder for me to handle as it is." She said in a small voice and Erik berated himself for not thinking about how difficult this might be for her.

She was an emotional person as it is and they… well, they weren't anything, but they were _something_. He was practically begging (in his own fucked up and twisted way) for the death penalty, and after twenty three murders, four more victims hospitalized (including one of his guards), and four years of trial he got it; but he never took into account that the blonde before him will make him second guess all of it.

Erik trusted no one and like no one – the Screechers liked to look out from the eyes of whoever he was talking to and rile him up – it was near impossible for him to do so. When he first met Lucy Heartfilia he was reluctant to talk to her for the usual reasons, but after a month he noticed something else: Lucy _didn't_ _have Screechers_ ; or if she had, they never moved her eyes, made any sort of noise, or did anything to indicate they even exist.

At first it freaked him out. _Everyone_ had Screechers, they either turned the eyes of the people they were in or they made their usual noises, but one way or another, _everyone had Screechers_.

Once he got over his initial shock, Erik started to comply with whatever the blonde did, suggested, or asked, studying her with a narrowed eye while telling her what she wanted to know. He wasn't that cooperative even with Jellal.

In the end the he couldn't find anything wrong with her or any reason why her Screechers appeared to be hidden at all times, but the lack of tiny creatures behind her eyes attracted Erik like a moth to a flame.

When almost a year had passed and there was still no sign of Screechers behind the chocolate brown eyes, the maroon haired murderer decided to try to do something for the first time in his life: he decided to trust her.

Her easy smile and wit appealed to him and slowly but surely, Erik fell in love.

Their conversations rarely had anything to do with the exposé she was supposed to be writing about him; in actuality, seven months into these weekly meetings the blonde confessed that she wanted to write a book with a main character that would be based on him.

That excuse gave them the opportunity to keep up with these meetings for the last thirty five months and finally this was the last time they would get to speak.

"Erik," her voice caught his attention, distracting him from the Screecher he still had rampaging behind his left eye.

"Are you nervous about…" Lucy chocked on her words, not able to say them out loud.

"No," was the answer he always gave her when she asked him this question, and this time wasn't different. "We always knew it was going to happen eventually."

A nervous, scared, bitter laugh burst from her lips, "Yeah, eventually. This isn't just something that is going to happen someday, you're going to- you'll be- you-" her sentence was once more cut off as she tried to hold back a sob.

"Lucy," the use of her real name surprised her enough to stop the sobs threatening to wreck through her body. "We don't have to talk about this."

It seemed like he wasn't the only one finding his choice of words ironic, because a disbelieving giggle escaped her and she murmured under her breath "I can't believe you said that…"

It took her several minutes, but with a few deep breaths Lucy calmed down enough to carry on. "You're right," she said. She quickly returned her belongings to her bag and turned to him with her arms crossed atop the table. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked in the most casual way possible.

"Well, I am kinda curious about what you're planning to do on your Tuesday evenings now that you won't have to spend time with a dangerous, unstable, schizophrenic, murderer for your book." He shared his thoughts.

Her petite frame stiffened across the table from him, but nevertheless she answered. "I'm going to work on the aforementioned book, finish it, and hopefully have it published by this time next year." A small smile tugged at his lips at her declaration.

They stayed silent for a little, the blonde probably thinking about his execution in two days' time, and him fighting the urge to slam his head as hard as he could against the metal table to see if it would silence his Screecher for at least a little while.

"Tell me about him," he requested. It was this habit they developed without even noticing – when one of them would feel upset or sad, Erik would ask Lucy to tell him about ' _him_ ', his alter ego, the fictional character that she created based on him. _For_ him.

A timid smile stretched her lips like every time before she started talking in a hushed, wandering voice. "Cobra Eitur is a very complicated man," she started, "he was a slave-child, destined to face many hardships before he was born. He spent all of his childhood fighting against the chains that both held him back and taught him how to survive in the ruthless world in which he lived…"

Tears formed in her eyes as she continued to tell him about Cobra coming across a cursed girl trapped in the body of a snake, the salty drops running down her cheeks as she spoke about Cobra escaping his chains with the help of Kinana, the snake-girl, and how they punished his master for his abusive treatment.

He wanted to comfort her; he tried to reach her hands and hold them in his own, but the binding on his wrists that tied his palms to the flat surface of the metallic table prevented him from doing so, only allowing him to moves his hands one or two inches closer to her.

Luckily, she noticed, and in the blink of an eye her much softer hands grasped his.

They spent the rest of their remaining time together like that – their hands clenched together tightly, their knuckles pale. At some point Lucy couldn't talk anymore, and the only sound left in the room was her heart shattering sobs.

When a guard signaled that their time was up Lucy seemed to panic even more, asking for one more minute to say goodbye, and the guard nodded sympathetically once he saw the state she was in.

"I-I'm so sorry," she managed to say between sobs.

"Don't."

"I'm go-going to m-m-mi-miss y-you."

"Don't."

"I d-d-don't want to-to say goodb-b-bye."

"Please…" his whisper was barely audible, "I need to hear you say it."

"G-g-goodbye, Erik."

"I love you."

Her answering cries strengthened. "I wish we-we had mo-more t-time."

"I know. Me too."

"I-I-I wish-" the sobs didn't allow her to finish.

"I know. Me too."

It didn't matter what it was that she wanted to say. I wish we met under different circumstances. I wish you weren't sick. I wish you wouldn't have to die in two days. I wish I didn't have to leave you.

He wished for all of them too.

 **CoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLuCoLu**

 ** _23 weeks later_**

A man strolled between the different aisles of the bookstore with no particular direction in mind. After randomly picking up books and then putting them back down when their title or cover seemed dull after a closer inspection for a while, he made his way back to front of the store with the intention of leaving empty-handed, however he noticed one of the shop clerks setting a few books on a special stand labeled _'New on the Shelf_ ', and change direction mid-stride.

"May I?" he pointed at one of the books.

The clerk shrugged and handed him the book, "sure; just put it back with the others when you're done."

The man's brows furrowed at the picture adorning the cover – a tan boy on his knees, dressed in rags, his head looking down and his dark hair hiding his face entirely; there were shackles on his wrists, long and trailing on the dark ground beneath him. Behind the boy there was a purple snake, towering high above him.

 _The Screeches of the Chains_

 _By Lucy Hearfilia_

The man tilted his head in thought, wondering whether he heard of that name before somewhere. When he couldn't think about anything he flicked the pages, intrigued by the book so far.

The man's finger slipped and the pages flew quickly. He tried to open the book on the first page again, but instead he happened to open the page before the first, the one with the thanks.

 _To Erik,_

 _For making this book possible; I hope you can read it wherever you are._

 _With all my heart,_

 _Lucy._


End file.
